In fact, Sunday night's live ceremony began with a gaffe: After a pre-produced, "La La Land"-inspired cold open, first-time Globes host Jimmy Fallon welcomed the audience and then immediately announced the teleprompter was down.

“This is a great way to start the show. I can do impressions,” Fallon offered as he stalled. “Cut to Justin Timberlake, please.”

To the production team’s credit, the prompter was back online quickly.

“We have another monitor coming in,” Fallon said. “You know what, I’ll make up this monologue. We’re here, this is what happens at the Golden Globes already. Already you have your Golden Globes moment. Already. It’s like a gift. I’m happy I didn’t trip. Here we go.”

But the prompter outage may have been an ideal Globes gaffe: Viewers credited Fallon for saving face while it was quickly handled, and, by starting with a mistake, there was nowhere to go after that but up.

There was, however, an uncomfortable moment during pre-show coverage. First-time Globes reporter Jenna Bush Hager asked Pharrell about his Best Original Score nomination for “Hidden Figures.” But, presumably confusing the name of that picture with another film up for multiple awards, “Fences,” she asked Pharrell instead about his nomination for “Hidden Fences.”

Presenter Michael Keaton later repeated the error when announcing the nominees for best supporting actress in a motion picture: He announced Octavia Spencer as the nominee for the film "Hidden Fences." It wasn't clear whether Keaton was riffing off the earlier mistake or not, but he drew criticism for it all the same.

The twitter-verse used the flub as an opportunity for satire, coming up with other mashup movie titles:

Another awkward moment on-stage featured presenter Sofia Vergara mispronouncing “annual,” which was presumably a joke she was reading from the teleprompter, not a gaffe on the actress’ part. Still, the joke didn’t come off quite right and left many wondering what, exactly, had happened there.

A similar moment came when presenter Goldie Hawn was at the mic — a joke, presumably written for the actress, didn't quite land, leading viewers to speculate on whether Hawn was intoxicated, or near-sighted, or both, or neither. Again, while not a gaffe exactly, it was another "What?" moment in a night mostly free of controversy.